After the Washington Commanders wrapped up day one of OTAs Tuesday, head coach Ron Rivera met with the media.
Rivera kicked off his press conference discussing the players who weren’t there. Terry McLaurin, Chase Young, Montez Sweat and Cam Sims all missed the first day for legitimate reasons.
Rivera was also asked if the Commanders would hold joint practices with another team this summer, and he shut down the idea.
“No, we’re gonna focus on us and really just try to work and continue to develop,” Rivera said.
“I mean, we really like where we are. It’s a young team. A lot of guys that have played a lot of football for us already and added some good young players. So we just feel this is about us focusing on who we are.”
In the past, Washington has held joint practices with the New England Patriots and Houston Texans, but those were under different regimes.
Earlier this year, Washington held discussions with the Buffalo Bills for potential collaborative practices this summer, but we wonder if the whole J.D. McKissic situation may have soured that possibility. Before the McKissic deal, Washington and Buffalo shared a mutual respect as Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott, and general manager Brandon Beane were both mentored by Rivera in Carolina.
I like the idea of joint practices. Trent Williams once said how practicing with another team helped him and his teammates get better. With a shortened preseason and starters barely playing in the preseason, joint practices provide an excellent chance to evaluate your starters and younger players attempting to make the roster.